We Need a Doctor
by SupremeOverlordofAwesomeness
Summary: The universe is falling apart... again. And what Pete's world really needs is a Doctor. Torchwood finds a way to tear a hole in the space time continuum just to drag the 11th Doctor back into a parallel universe. The Doctor wishes with all his heart that he could see Rose again, but there's one slight problem: if she finds out he's there, the universe might just explode.
1. Prologue

**My first Doctor Who fanfic! I'm a huge fan, and I know that a lot of people have attempted to do an eleventh doctor-Rose reunion, but I'm going to try to put my own spin on it. The prologue may be inaccurate on some levels, considering that I don't look through four meter telescopes every day, but I did my best. Review, please, and enjoy!**

Prologue:

Lily Harris sighed.

It had been a long, long day. A long, long night, that is. She'd been observing Europa through the 4-meter telescope since sunset—seven p.m. She checked her watch. Five oh nine, and the image was already starting to get bleary. When had she last slept? Was it thirty hours ago? Forty? Ugh…

_Just until sunrise_. Lily encouraged herself, trying her best not to let her heavy lids blink. _Thirty minutes. The sky is already getting bright. Just until sunrise…_

Europa was a very interesting moon—the most interesting moon in the Solar System in her opinion. All that ice, so smooth… it was just so… _cool_.

She was studying the crater that had blemished the ice. It seemed recent, which was what bothered her; where was the crater itself? It couldn't have vanished so quickly. And the shape of it was odd too… almost rectangular. Lily had a feeling that something out of the ordinary had made that crater, and her curiosity got the better of her.

She leaned into the lens, examining the details. Abruptly, a flash of blue interrupted the ice. Lily frowned, bewildered. She looked again, searching for the source… what was that? She looked closer, not believing her own eyes. No, that was definitely a blue box. It looked tiny, through her lens. Intrigued, Lily slipped in a more powerful one. Were those windows, on the sides? No, it couldn't be… She placed in an even more powerful lens. Yes! Yes it had to be! It had the words _Police Public Call Box _scrawled across the front in yellow. What on earth? No, what on _Europa_. Didn't they use to have those in the sixties? What the hell was one doing…?

Incredulous, Lily screwed out the lens and examined it. No, there was nothing painted there. Nothing could be wrong with the telescope—it was brand new! Finished today!

Tremulously, Lily screwed back in the most powerful lens she could find. Yes… it was a police public call box right on the moon… she had to tell someone! Who? Who would believe her?

Just as Lily was about to reach for her phone, something flickered to life on the police box. Lily squinted, not believing her eyes, as a figure stepped out… out of the police box… onto the surface of Europa… oh my gosh!

He wore no helmet, no suit. Just normal clothes. Well, not normal exactly—a bowtie and suspenders could never be called "normal". A million thoughts reeled through Lily's mind. _Oh no, I'm hallucinating. Have I been drinking? I should rally tell someone… who will believe me? Wait a minute, it he… is he _waving_? At… at _me_? _


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Oh, no

"Doctor, who are you waving to?" Amy Pond asked, peeking her head out of the TARDIS. "Is there some invisible monster out there we're going to have to run from?"

The Doctor smiled. "Well, maybe. But I'm waving to earth, actually. There's a graduate student looking at us through a telescope right now."

"And you know that how?"

The Doctor shrugged. "It's a Time Lord thing."

"Spacey wacey?"

"Spacey wacey."

Amy shrunk back into the TARDIS, unnerved by her surroundings. "Can't we go somewhere else? This place is freaking me out."

"Oh, come now. The TARDIS is completely protecting us. You can stand up to…" He took a few steps forward. "_Here _and still be able to breathe just fine."

Amy scowled. "Yeah, yeah, I know. But can't we go somewhere a little more… exciting?"

The Doctor straightened his bowtie as he spoke, running his hands through that overly-hair-gelled hair of his, the way he does when he was nervous. "So you _want _to get chased by crazy aliens who want to destroy Earth?"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't be here, now would I?"

"Good point."

"Are you… alright, Doctor?"

The Doctor frowned with that his classic I'm-so-innocent look. "Yes. Why?"

"You look nervous."

The Doctor hesitated, not wanting to worry her. But he knew that she would just keep bothering him until he let it slip. Sighing, he told her, "There's something wrong. I don't know what, but I can feel it." He then mumbled to himself "_Disaster is on the horizon… what a surprise_."

Amy frowned. She didn't like the sound of that.

With those skinny chicken legs of his, the Doctor bounded back into the TARDIS. By the time Amy closed the door, he was already fiddling with the controls, and that familiar wheezing sound rang through the air.

"Where are we going?" Amy wondered apprehensively.

"Well, if I told you now, that would ruin the surprise!"

Amy smiled. _Yup. That's my Doctor_, she thought.

The TARDIS seemed too quiet without Rory. Amy almost regretted staying with the Doctor while he visited his parents. Almost. But the thought of Rory's shred, critical mother reassured her that she had made the right choice. She tried to convince the Doctor to go forward in time to when Rory's visit was over, but he replied by threading together a bunch of big, complicated, space wacey words. Amy took that as Time Lord talk for "I don't feel like fetching Rory so I'm going to give you a complicated explanation you can't understand then transport us to some far away, dangerous planet."

"Oh!" Amy cried as her body was wrenched downward. The bright lights of the TARDIS flickered at the control room buckled this way and that. _Great, not again_! Amy thought as the Doctor pulled himself up off the floor and begun to grapple for control.

"What's… happening… this… time?" Amy yelled, finding it hard to speak through the turbulence. She grasped for the railing, her heart hammering against her chest.

"Not… entirely… sure!" The Doctor shouted back. Knobs and levers flew this way and that by themselves, as if that invisible monster from before had climbed into the TARDIS and was now toying with dials.

"Impossible…" The Doctor muttered to himself. "It's steering itself! No, something else is steering it… Ugh, too many impossible things happen to me!"

Just as abruptly as it had started, the shaking and the rumbling of the TARDIS ceased. Amy caught her breath. "Where are we?" She gasped.

"I don't know, but it can't be good."

As the two struggled to their feet, their gazes fell towards the door, both of their stomachs churning with trepidation. While Amy's heart fluttered nervously, both of the Doctor's seemed to simultaneously skip a beat. He'd been here before… he could feel it… oh, no. This was bad. This was very bad…

"You open the door first." The Doctor told Amy.

"What? Why me?"

"Just do it Amy. Please."

Amy's brows furrowed. She knew that tone. She knew that face. She was terrified of that face. The Doctor always looked like that just when they were about to get into some life-threatening, maddeningly intense trouble. She gulped.

But, nonetheless, she obeyed, and with tremulous fingers, she cracked open the door. Relief swelled through her. "It looks normal enough." She told the Doctor, peaking her head out into the open, Earth air.

"That's what I was afraid of." the Doctor muttered.

Amy cautiously stepped out into the fresh air, scrutinizing her surroundings. Yes, it was definitely Earth. So why did the Doctor look so terrified.

"It's still there. The TARDIs is still just fine… that's odd." He was mumbling to himself, as usual.

"C'mon you chicken, get out here. There are no scary aliens, I promise." Amy called.

At a slug's pace, the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS took his place beside Amy. She was wondering why he kept sniffing the air like a bloodhound. He never stopped fiddling with the bowtie of his, which he only did on two occasions: one, when he was especially smug about something, and two, when he was anxious. He certainly didn't look smug, and the Doctor only got anxious when the situation was about to get fatal.

"Where are we exactly? London? It looks like London." Amy went on. "But… where did all the Zeppelins come from? What—"

"_DOCTOR_!"

Both of the time traveler's heads snapped upward to find a woman sprinting towards them, bleach-blond hair bouncing, denim jean jacket flailing around her body…

"Oh, no." The Doctor grumbled. "Oh, no, no, no!"

"Who on earth is that?" Amy asked suspiciously.

The Doctor ignored her. "No!" He moaned. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, _no_!" he scrambled back into his TARDIS as quickly as his legs could carry him. Amy grasped one of his suspenders, dragging him back out, as another cry of "_Doctor_!" cried. The footsteps of the woman were approaching.

"Doctor, _what is going on_?" Amy hissed.

The Doctor's face fell, his eyes flashing with alarm. "To explain, it would involve telling you a very, very long story that we don't have time for at the moment."

"Well, at least tell me who she is!"

At that moment, the mystery woman reached them, and placed her hands on her knees, panting. "Did you… change your face… _again_?" Jackie Tyler huffed.


	3. Chapter 2

**Hi guys! Sorry it took me so long to update. I've been busy… if you count rewatching all of Doctor Who busy. Which I do, actually. I hope you like it so far. I know its not as great as a lot of other works, and I apologize for the grammar errors, but I'll do my best! I'm trying to portray all the character's personalities as best as I can, but I don't think I'm doing a great job. Please give plenty of critiques in reviews. Thanks! **

Chapter 3

"How can you recognize me, Jackie?" the Doctor hissed. He was terrified of this woman, and he hadn't been exactly anxious to see her over the past few years. But, at the same time, he felt a kind of warmth spread through him at the sight of those wide blue eyes of hers, and that stringy blond hair hanging in a ponytail and draping over the forehead. He had really missed those sweat pants and jean jackets. He hadn't realized it, but he really, really had.

"What, no hug? No 'it's been so long, it's great to see you'? Ahh, you ungrateful bastard. And what's up with your chin? Did you choose it to be that way? Bad decision, I'd say. You're regenerations keep getting younger… and so do you're girlfriends. Blimey, it didn't take you too long to get another pretty young thing to start following you, did it? Johnny would be disappointed in you."

"Hey!" Amy complained. "Doctor, who _is _this?"

"Both of you, shush!" the Doctor bellowed. "Now, Jackie, did you _bring _me here?"

"Well, why would you think that?" Jackie asked innocently.

"Because you don't seem remotely surprised to see me."

Jackie Tyler scowled. A sharp pang hit one of the Doctor's hearts as he realized the similarities with her expression from Rose. Rose—Rose is near… He snapped himself out of it.

"Alright, we brought you here." Jackie admitted. "But it wasn't me! It was Torchwood! Well, I guess I was a part of it, but it was mostly Pete. But there's something happening, we needed you—"

"Do you realize what you've done?" The Doctor shouted. "You just tore a hole in space and time the size of Russia! Classic Torchwood, I guess. You idiotic apes!"

Amy flinched. She had never seen the Doctor like this. This was bad. Really, really bad, if he was getting so angry. He only got angry when the universe was about to fall apart. But, despite the fact that she was a little scared of this furious, raging Doctor, her curiosity was much, much stronger than her fear.

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" She screeched, her Scottish accent pronounced.

"Later." The Doctor told her curtly before turning back to the strange blond woman.

"Listen, Doctor, just come to Torchwood! We'll explain everything—why it was necessary!"

He hesitated, unsure whether or not to agree. He would've rather stopped one of his own hearts from beating than step back into that retched Torchwood building again, even if it were in a different universe, but there didn't seem like much choice. He couldn't deny his help when someone needed it. Especially when they were desperate enough to rip apart a universe to reach him.

"Alright." He agreed reluctantly.

"Good. But leave _her_ here." She pointed to Amy, whose was beginning to get her how-dare-you face.

"I trust Amy completely. There's no reason for her to stay." the Doctor insisted before Amy could open her mouth.

Jackie glowered. "Fine. But I'll be keeping an eye on her." She began sauntering off down the unfamiliar road, signaling for the time travelers to follow her.

"Okay, explain. Now!" Amy growled as the two trailed Jackie, making sure to stay far enough behind her as not to be eavesdropped.

"We're in a parallel universe, okay?" The Doctor snapped.

"Parallel universes exist?"

"Of course they do! For every single decision you make, another universe is created. Just by deciding to eat salad for dinner instead of steak would create a completely different world."

"And it tears a hole in the universe by travelling into one?"

"That's right."

"Then how to you know _her_?" Amy nodded toward the blond speed walking up ahead of them.

"She's just an old friend. I may have… accidentally trapped her in another parallel universe."

Amy's eyes narrowed. She could tell that he was withholding information. There was a new expression on his face… one she had never seen before. "Try not to do that to me, alright?"

"Promise." His dark mood didn't lift at her joke, though he managed a feigned smile.

"So what's Torchwood?" Amy asked.

"Just a secret society that fights alien attack."

"Right. _Just_. Why didn't you tell me any of this before? You've told me a bunch of other stories."

The Oncoming Storm shrugged. "I guess I have too many stories to tell."

Just looking at the newly-renovated Torchwood gave the Doctor the chills. Even Amy felt it. The glossy skyscraper was forbidding, with its pitch-black surface and deformed reflections. With some elbow grease, the Doctor convinced himself to follow Jackie inside, and of course Amy came in his wake.

The minute they stepped into the marble lobby, all conversations ceased. All eyes rested on the Doctor's grinning face. Amy was glad to see that his smug self was back, but she fidgeted uneasily under the dozens of stares.

"Um, Jackie." A suited man came up to the three of them. He was making an effort to keep his eyes off what might be the legendary Doctor, but it was hard to lock his gaze on every day Jackie. "Pete wants you upstairs." He told her distractedly, "Is that the…"

"Yeah. Meet the Doctor." Jackie sighed. She never liked it when her colleagues discussed the Doctor, as if he were some god. They thought they knew everything there was to know about him. Ridiculous.

"Mr. Doctor, sir, it is an honor." He was about to salute, but the Doctor stopped him with an, "Oh, no, no, no. Don't do that. Jackie, let's keep moving."

Amy nearly laughed at the shocked, offended look on the man's face as they walked away, but first she asked, "You're more of a Mr. Grumpy Face today than with the angels. What's wrong?"

"I'm not a fan of Torchwood." the Doctor replied simply.

The elevator ride was awkwardly silent, until Jackie broke it with, "So what's you're name, sweetheart?"

"Amy." Amy answered uncertainly.

"How long have you been with the Doctor? Because trust me when I say that the longer you stay with him, the more likely you are to get abandoned."

Amy glowered. "The Doctor wouldn't do that."

"I wouldn't put it past him."

"I didn't abandon her." The Doctor snarled. "I would've gone to the end of the universe to save her, and you know that. I would've torn apart reality for her, even, but I don't think that the rest of the universe would've been too happy about that. If I could've, I would've."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. Don't give me that! You abandoned her the second time! You had a chance to be with her for Pete's sake! And you just threw it away! The only thing that kept her from going mental with the grief was Johnny. He's a better man than you'll ever be!"

"Jackie, he _is _me! And he needed her."

"Lousy excuse."

The three of them lapsed back into what was for Amy a very bemused silence, but what was for the Doctor and Jackie a very enraged one. Amy cast the Doctor a 'tell me later' look.

They got off at the twelfth floor, which was bustling with more suited men and woman. Instead of a room falling silent in the Doctor's presence, the noise simply amplified with whispers tossed around. "_Is that him_?" People would say, or "_Oh my gosh, I can't believe it!_" or even "_Jackie _wasn't _lying then!_" Most tried pretend that they weren't all staring. Jackie proceeded without a moment's hesitation.

The hallways, like the lobby, were made of fancy marble, and the air was consumed by the sound of pricey shoes clattering against it. Jackie seemed under dressed in the sea of Italian silk, but she didn't seem to mind. With a tight jaw, she knocked on a large wooden door. "Pete!" She called inside. "I've got him!"

There was a sound of a scuffle, like books being dropped, before a gruff, familiar voice answered, "Well, bring him in, bring hi in!"

The room was some kind of lab, filled to the brim with high-tech computers and fancy little gadgets. It was a large, airy room, but only a single man stood in the corner, behind a large wooden desk. It seemed to take Pete a minute of searching for another man before he realized who the Doctor was.

"Doctor? Is that you?" He said as he evaluated the new man. "You regenerated." His eyes lingered on the bowtie. "Bowties?" He asked. "Are you sure that's the right look?"

"Bowties are cool." the Doctor insisted, straightening his own. This time, his expression was smug, not quite as nervous. "Now I've heard that you tore apart time and space to get my help. Not a very wise thing to do."

Pete sighed. "I knew you would say that. John was trying to stop me, but we need you're help. Badly."

"Well, so does everyone. More cybermen trouble?" The Doctor was stalling. His throat burned as a singular question floated within his skull: _how is Rose_? Was she married? Did she have kids? Was it all working out well with the metacrisis Doctor—this John? Okay, maybe the question wasn't as singular as he thought.

"No, actually. There's something else, something big and bad, and—"

His voice was interrupted as the heavy wooden door slammed. The group of four all turned their heads to find a rather out of breath man storm into the room. His wild brown hair and rumpled brown suit made him look like he had just stepped out of a wind tunnel. He and the Doctor exchanged one brief glance before the newcomer burned his fiery gaze into Pete.

"Pete, I _told _you not to! Have you realized what kind of damage you've done?" He yelled. Amy drew back unnerved by this stranger's presence, while Jackie merely roller her eyes and Pete pursed his lips in a disappointed kind of way.

The next thing that happened could only be described as completely extraordinary—that is, if you were like Amy and had absolutely no idea who this tall, breathless man was.

At the very same moment, both the Doctor and the newcomer spoke the exact came words: "Classic Torchwood, tearing the universe apart to keep their business in check."

A gelid silence fell.

Amy, who at this point was already quite possibly more bewildered than ever before in her life—even more than at that moment in the diner when they were grieving the Doctor's death, only to see him bound in wearing his ear-to-ear grin—somehow managed to get even more confused. It wasn't just misunderstanding. She was missing something. Something big. And she was the only one, by the looks of the unsurprised grimaces cast by Jackie and Pete. She, being Mrs. Amy Pond, the one and only, was not very happy about this.

Meanwhile, the alien and the strange new man shared another look. A longer one. It almost seemed, at least to someone on the outside, that they were sharing come kind of secret, telepathic conversation. Both of the men shared the same frowning, worried kind of look, as if they were both thinking the exact same thing.

"Can I speak with you for a moment, Doctor?" Amy hissed, becoming the first to shatter the icy silence. She couldn't stand not understanding for one more second.

"Not now, Amy." He said a bit curtly. He seemed to regret being to brusque once he glanced at Amy's red-hot glare. "Sorry. But as I said, it's a long story. Not to be told now, I'm afraid." Then he made the mistake of saying the one thing that could only make her angrier. "Why don't you go back to the TARDIS while we sort this out, okay?"

"I'm not a child!" she nearly screeched the words before hissing more quietly to him, so that these wide-eyed strangers would not hear quite as well, "So don't patronize me, son in law."

"Amy, please." He whispered back, his voice pleading. He held out the extra TARDIS key he always kept in his pocket, well aware that on most occasions Amy forgot her own. "I promise I'll explain everything when I get back. I just need you to do this for me."

She scowled, debating. "Fine." She snarled at last, only because of that strangely desperate look in the Doctor's eyes. Her plot to come back and eavesdrop may have been a part of her decision too. "But you have to call me the second anything exciting happens. Then explain _everything _to me in _clear detail_ once we escape from some fatal alien attack. Alright, Mr.?"

"Promise."

With a reluctant glower, Amy snatched the TARDIS key from the Doctor's fingers and made her way to the door. She made sure to take slow steps, just to see if she could hear any snippet of conversation. Only silence. The Doctor knew her only too well. Amy Pond speed walked into the hallway, grumbling about in-laws the whole way.


	4. Chapter 3

**I forgot to tell you: I'm American, so I don't know too much about British slang, other than what I've picked up from Doctor Who. Forgive me if the characters talk more American than they should!**

**This is a short chapter—I wanted to get right to the point.**

Chapter 4

"Pete," the new John Smith continued once Amy Pond had shut the door, his fury subdued into a perturbed annoyance, "You realize that you've endangered the entire universe by pulling him into this world, don't you?"

"Yes, I understand, but we _need_—" Pete began.

"No, you don't need, you_ want _Pete. I don't understand how Rose could have come from an idiot like you!"

The Doctor knew this rage—his own rage. It was a rage that signaled the impending end of the universe. But this was silly! The Doctor knew that he could close the gap in space and time pretty easily, if given the right equipment, which Torchwood was well in stock of. In fact, it would close itself soon enough, if left alone. There was no imminent dander of death by Dalek or Cyberman, so there was no hurry. He didn't quite understand what all the fuss was about. His own clone should understand this too, right? Maybe he didn't quite get that metacrisis DNA swap as much as he had pretended to…

The Doctor decided to point this out. "Honestly, I can fix it quite easily." He assured.

Pete's eyes widened, mirroring Jackie's, but before either of them could open one of their mouths, Johnny clarified. "Its not the gap we're worried about." He said solemnly.

The Doctor stomach twisted uneasily. He hated not knowing things, certainly dangerous thinks. And the fact that _this _Doctor knew more than he did bothered him for some reason. He was already jealous enough of his clone, for winning the heart of… _Oh, stop it_, he told himself snappily._ Get you're head in the game, Doctor._ "What do you mean?" he asked anxiously.

Johnny's eyes tightened. "Its Rose." He said simply. "She… she can't find out you're here."

"Clearly." The Doctor answered, his brow furrowing as his clone got off track.

He didn't really like the reminder. "I wasn't planning on steeling your girlfriend—"

"Wife!" Jackie corrected harshly, casting a bone-chilling glare towards the Doctor. She still hadn't forgiven him for leaving his daughter twice on that retched bay.

The Doctor gritted his teeth. "_Wife_." he snarled out, "But what's that got to do with—"

"No, Doctor—" Johnny ran a hand through his hair. "She _really _can't find out you're here. Cause if she does… the universe may just explode."


	5. Chapter 4

**Sorry that once again, it took me a while to update. I'm doing my best! Please tell me if there's an inaccuracy to the show through this, since I tend to do that quite a bit. Review, and keep reading since the next chapter should be up a lot sooner. Thanks!**

* * *

Amy Pond was _not _in a good mood.

The second that big wooden door shut behind her, she crouched down and pressed her ears up against the wood. _Damn, its too thick! _She thought desperately as the conversation only came out as a series of garbled grunts. A dozen eyes rested on her suspiciously as the crowd swarmed around her. She ignored them.

She managed to catch a few words thrown this way and that. Words like "Needs," and "Fix." Not much help to her. But then she managed to hear something that made her brow furrow—a name: _Rose_. Coming from the odd stranger's voice, she thought. The name sounded so familiar… hadn't the doctor mentioned her once her twice? Yes… Amy struggled to remember.

_It was Christmas Eve a little over a year ago. The Doctor had gleefully convinced Rory and Amy to accompany him on a little, harmless Christmas outing. Unlike usual, this 'harmless outing' didn't involve getting attacked by evil aliens halfway through the trip—no, this time the trip was almost over by the time that happened. But that wasn't was Amy was trying so hard to remember. _

_ He had taken them to New Earth, where they watched the glowing skyline of New New York from a deserted little field, where they were all splayed out across the grass. Apparently, the city was famous for its unbelievable firework displays at Christmas time. The Doctor was just starting to tell them about the show, ("—And then the giant firework Rudolph would drop presents on the city, which blow up into a shower of sparks. Oh right, forgot to tell you, in the forty-seventh century humans started to believe that Santa Claus was secretly a demon plotting to kill their children, so Rudolph took his place…") when Amy, who was having trouble resisting rolling her eyes, noticed something._

_ She pointed at the large white outline of a building not to nearby. A green moon was painted on its side, and lights glowed from its windows. It disrupted the endless fields, standing out like a businessman trapped in a circus act. Or maybe a better comparison was just a building among trees. "What's that?" She interrupted. _

_ The Doctor seemed irritated for a moment until he noticed what she was looking at. It was a tiny, nearly imperceptible movement, almost too fast for Amy to be sure it actually happened, but she could've sworn that the Doctor's fists briefly clenched and unclenched at this sight. His expression gained an unreadable kind of strain. He hid it well from an oblivious Rory. _

_ "That," he told her with a slight note of distaste in his tone, "Is the hospital. That green moon symbol there is the universal sign for hospitals, you know."_

_ Amy frowned as she caught a flicker of movement by the building. She squinted. "So is that a doctor coming toward us?"_

_ The Doctor, who had been lying on his back this entire time, bolted upright as if a lightning bolt were shocked down his spine. Amy flinched in surprise. All three of them were on there feet now, tensed to flee at the Doctor's command._

_ "Do we need to run?" Amy asked, expecting the Doctor to dart right into a long explanation of some deadly alien that was going to feed of their limbs or something. Instead, he caught her by surprise. _

_ "No… no, we don't." He smiled a bit, relaxing as a look of recognition crossed his face. "I think I know who it is…"_

_ Amy's eyes widened as the figure stepped into the light of the exploding fireworks. She had the furry face of a cat, but walked on two legs like a human. Grey-brown tabby fur sprouted from an anxious face, while the rest of her body was hidden behind robes of white. _

_ "Doctor?" she said uncertainly. "Is that you? The Face of Boe told me that you could change your face, but I wasn't sure I really believed him_."

_ A huge grin lit the Doctor's face. "Novice Hame!" He exclaimed, embracing her briefly, like an old friend. Amy's eyes narrowed in bewilderment. "Its been too long! How are you? Oh wait, can you remind me what year it is?"_

_ She smiled a nervous type of smile, though warm all the same. "After the Face of Boe's death, unfortunately. He's the one who told me that I'd see you one more time-tonight."_

_ The Doctor nodded, a grim look crossing over his face before vanishing as swiftly as it had came. "How are you? How's the city doing?"_

_ "Ever since you opened the motorway, the city is thriving, thankfully. I still haven't thanked you enough for that…"_

_ "Oh, no need. I hate repeated apologizes almost as much as I hate giant wasps. Now _that_ is an interesting story."_

_ Amy, who hadn't heard this story yet, made a mental note to remind him to tell her later. _

_ For the first time, Novice Hame glanced at the bemused pair of humans. She chuckled rather softly, and Amy's annoyance flared. _

_ "You have new travelers with you every time I see you, Doctor." She pointed out with a cautious voice, as if she were afraid she had gone too far. "What happened to all of them?"_

_ Apparently, she hadn't. "Oh, well…." the Doctor searched him mind for the right word choice. "They… they all had someone else." A flashback came to him: an old man standing in the doorway to his house, his face shadowed by the the night as the rain pelted down like bullets. The last time he'd said those words... he quickly wiped the memory from thought.  
_

_"Hmph." the cat woman didn't seem very convinced. "By the way that blond girl acted around you, I never would have thought she's dream about finding someone else. What was here name again?" She seemed to realize what she was saying, and recognized the effect in the Doctor's grim expression. Novice abruptly stopped herself. It was this expression, she thought, that reflected his age in his face. Despite the new, younger features, in that moment, he looked thrice the age he had been at their first meeting. _

"_But, my apologizes—its none of my business, is it?" Novice Hame covered up hastily._

_ Amy peered at the Doctor's expression, surprised to see the forbidding hardline of his lips and the steely glare of his eyes as they rested on Novice Hame. For the first moment in her life, the Doctor scared her. _

_ "Rose." he told her carefully, wrestling with the grief that reared up within him. To Amy, the tone sounded strangled. "Her name was Rose."_

_ Novice Hame nodded at the familiar title._

_ "Right." The Doctor said with a deep breath, trying his best to lighten the mood with a cheery smile. "Well, if we're extremely lucky today and there's no impending apocalypse, I think we'll head down to the city to explore the sights. Good to see you again."_

_ The two shared a look—a knowing type of flinty look that made Amy frown. Then without further ado, the Doctor hastily towed them away. _

_ "Who was she?" Amy had persisted as they strode away, curving her neck to watch the white-clad figure stumble back into the hospital. _

_ "Just an old friend. Helped me save the city and yadayadayada. Ooh, look the Zeppelins are advertising free hot dogs! Whose up for it? You know, for a century or so in the early four billions, they started to make hot dogs actually made out of dogs, but the people were too disgusted, so—"_

_ Amy stopped listening there. She knew the Doctor well enough to realize that his swift change of the subject was his own weird Time Lord way of saying "This matter is closed."_

Amy thought for a minute. Could this be the same Rose mentioned by Novice Hame? Well, of course it bloody well had to be! If there was one thing Amy learned while traveling with the Doctor, it was that there was no such thing as coincidence. He had refused to tell her the story of this mysterious Rose when he had described in flowing detail so many other adventures. Something about the image of the Doctor's grim look at the mention of her name convinced Amy that it was certainly not just because nothing exciting happened with her. He had been avoiding the subject of Rose for a reason… But somehow, Amy doubted that barging back through the door and demanding answers would help much.

But there was one person that might know the answer behind this Rose mystery…

* * *

Professor River Song strode gracefully out of the TARDIS, smiling in the golden sunlight of the parallel universe. Amy leaped up from the curb she had been sitting on. "Finally!" she exclaimed. "What took you so long?"

Since her superphone didn't seem to work quite, well_, super_ in a parallel universe, Rose had no luck getting a hold of River via mobile. Clueless of what else to try without the Doctor, she instead settled for stubbornly yelling at the TARDIS to help her until something new happened. After all, Amy had recently learned that it _was _a living being, wasn't it? So why couldn't it help her out?

By the time Amy had stormed out of the TARDIS in a fit of rage, she was just about ready to punch a hole in a wall. She had just spent the past half hour making a fool of herself and for what? Amy was so angry, so pent up all this infuriated indignation, that she aimed a kick right at the TARDIS.

It vanished before she could let her foot slam against the wood, and Amy ended up tripping over her own feet into what was now a vat of empty air. The TARDIS had vanished.

For twenty full minutes, she sat on the curb, fretting. Was this supposed to happen? Was it bringing River back, or had some human-hating aliens stolen it? Oh, the Doctor would be _so _mad…

But after an eternity, the familiar wheezing had returned, and the police box reappeared, bearing a woman with a sly smile and a head of golden, wildly curled locks.

Amy examined River's floor-length, glittering blue ball gown with a pair of bemused, narrow eyes. It was a deep navy blue, and was in a mermaid style. A diamond necklace glittered under River's painted face. Amy, for a moment, felt a stab of jealousy—this dress was _gorgeous_!

River read her expression with a gloating smile. "I know. I love it!" She twirled for the effect.

"Where did you just come from, a dinner party at Buckingham palace or your high school prom?" Amy asked sarcastically to help cover up her apprehension, but she already knew what River was going to say.

"_Spoilers_."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Right. So remind me. Where are we in your timeline? Have we done the confusing eye patch thing yet?"

"Oh, you mean the wedding? Of course! Is that only as far as you're up to?"

Amy grimaced. "You just love to taunt me, don't you?"

Amy's daughter smiled that smile of hers that Amy could only describe as River-ish: River's classic I-know-something-you-don't smile that drove all of them—Rory and the Doctor included—completely mad.

"So," River went on, straightening her white gloves. "Let's get me out of this dress while you explain to me why you told the TARDIS to bring me here."

* * *

"So, a parallel universe?" River repeated as the two women stepped out of the TARDIS, River now in street clothes. Unlike most people, River didn't seem at all surprised to hear the news that she was no longer in her own universe. They both glanced up at the Zeppelins zooming about. "Where's the Doctor?"

"Discussing top secret plans with some alien-fighting agency called Torchwood." Amy grumbled. "Making it impossible to eavesdrop."

River grinned. "Well, we can't have that can we. Torchwood? He's told me about it."

"Well, Torchwood's not really what I'm worried about. I wanted to ask you if you knew anything about a... _certain friend_ of the Doctor's."

River raised her eyebrows. "What kind of '_certain friend'_?" She didn't like the sound Amy had pronounced those words.

"Someone named Rose. She has something to do with this, but I'm not sure what."

A grimace crossed River's face. "Sorry, but I can't help you much with that."

Amy's heart fell. "Why not?"

"He refuses to tell me much about her. Just that she was a friend of his who got trapped in a parallel universe. Here, obviously. I think… I think something horrible happened that made it too… too painful for him to talk about her."

Amy's stomach churned like a washing machine at this. The Doctor had told her stories of Donna and Madame de Pompadour, and Astrid. All of which were some of that saddest stories she'd ever heard. The description of his moments erasing Donna Noble's memories had made her blubber like a baby! Even Rory had did his best to hastily cover up the few tears that had escaped, too worried about the protection of his manliness. So if there was a story too sad for the Doctor to tell… Amy shivered at the thought, a wave of pity going out to the Doctor as she tried not to imagine the possibilities.

"Do you know her last name?" Amy urged.

River shook her head. "Though I did see a photo once. Tricked the TARDIS into showing me."

Amy smiled. "Then let's find ourselves a Rose."


	6. Chapter 5

**PLEASE READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**Okay, first things first, I tweaked a bit of the old dialogue, but not too much. Pretty much, all I did was erase what both Pete and Jackie mentioned about the cybermen, since I decided not to have them be the enemy in this story. Secondly, I know the science behind the threat to the universe is a bit odd and a bit messily done, but I couldn't think of any other way to have Rose knowing of the Doctor's return explode the universe. If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to tell me them! **

**Those who have been waiting, here it is at last. Rose will be in this chapter!**

By the time John had finished explaining, the Doctor's mind was reeling. Of course. Of course this had to happen! Just his luck. He was still struggling to wrap his mind around it. He replayed John's words in his head.

"_When Rose absorbed the Time Vortex, something happened to her. A little piece of the heart of the TARDIS settled into her body." John explained in that rapid, rambling way that made the Doctor wonder if this was really what he always sounded like. "So Rose, technically, now exists in every point in time and space, just like the TARDIS." John went on. "Except of course, her presence isn't nearly strong enough to allow her to time travel or space travel, but its still there. _

"_Now, I only found this out because she started to have a faint golden trail of light following her. Only I you and I would be able to see it, since we have minds of Time Lords, but its been getting less transparent with each passing day. I did some tests, took a blood sample and…" a grim look passed over his face. "And its been increasing. The TARDIS and the Time Vortex within her is at a steady increase. I don't know how—yet—but because she exists in every point in time and space, if she blows up, the entire universe would blow up too. Just like the TARDIS."_

_The Doctor frowned, reminded of that time when the TARDIS was exploding, taking the universe with it. "Well then, that's not too much of a problem. As long as she doesn't decide to swallow some dynamite anytime soon." He said this mostly to reassure himself, because he knew that there was more to it. _

_John shook his head. "I knew you were going to say that. But the thing is… the Daleks have figured this out too."_

_The Doctor's eyes widened. Of course. Of course there had to be Daleks involved. There were always Daleks involved. He exhaled sharply, resisting the urge to curse. "Daleks." He grumbled. "Right. Just my luck."_

"_They wiped out the cybermen." Jackie cut in. "All of them were just suddenly wiped of the planet. We were about to start celebrating before we realized what had happened to them."_

_The Doctor gritted his teeth. _

"_Anyway," John went on, "The Daleks figured out that Rose's destruction would destroy the universe. I'm not sure how, but… they put some sort of bomb inside Rose. A bomb that'll go off the second her heartbeat starts to increase too much. I don't know how to deactivate it without triggering the explosion…" his tone grew desperate. Terrified. Agonized, even. _

_Meanwhile, a wave of horror slapped the Doctor across the face. He felt suddenly lightheaded as the realization came to him. Anything too emotional, anything surprising, and… kaboom. This was bad. Very, very bad. He knew that Daleks were could be sharp-minded creatures when drawn to their full potential, but he had no idea that they could figure that out. And what was more, they _dared_ to place a bomb inside _Rose Tyler_! Not on his watch._

_The Doctor swallowed back his boiling rage and terror. "That makes no sense!" he insisted, as if hoping that by pointing this out everything would fix itself. "Why would they wait for Rose to explode herself when it wound be so much easier and quicker just to set it off already? I mean, I'm thankful they didn't, of course, but…"_

"_I have no more of an idea than you." John admitted. A dark silence blanketed the room._

"Right." the Doctor now said, his voice strained. "So, translation, send Rose Tyler to a spa. Got it. Just one more question. If anything surprising and emotional happening to Rose would explode the universe, why the bloody hell am I here?" He was yelling at Pete in particular, who gained a stern look.

"Don't blame him too much, Doctor. He just didn't know what else to do." the Doctor's other self insisted. The full Time Lord glared at him.

"Says the man who was screaming at him five minute ago," he muttered darkly.

"You two are mad, you are!" Jackie cut in. "You're the same person, shouldn't you be getting along better?"

At that moment, just about when the Doctor was about to swiftly change the subject, a head poked its way into the door. "Mr. Tyler?" He addressed Pete. "She's on her way up."

Pete stiffened. "Try to stall her, but don't annoy her too much!" He cried. The head vanished immediately.

A wave of panic gripped both the Doctor's fluttering hearts. Rose. Oh gosh, _Rose Tyler _was heading their way. He ran a hand through his hair worriedly, an habit still left over from his last incarnation. "What's my name?" He asked John frantically. "I certainly can't tell her I'm John Smith!"

"I was prepared for this, Doctor." Pete assured in his infuriatingly calm businessman tone. "Your name is Charles Owens. You're from UNIT here to collaborate. The real UNIT refused our help, but Rose doesn't know that."

"Does she know about the Daleks?" the Doctor asked in a frantic way that John knew was the Doctor's form of panic. The one in the bowtie straightened out his now messy hair, trying to look casual, but John doubted he would ever pull of casual in a bowtie. He'd always liked bowties, but never before had he gotten a face that could pull the look off.

Pete nodded. "She knows that they're here, but not about the bomb, of course."

Footsteps clattered outside the door. The Doctor stiffened, but every other actor seemed to already have memorized their part perfectly. Only John seemed very worried. The Doctor hoped his expression was smooth enough, and his hand itched to straighten his bowtie, but he didn't have enough time before the door open and in stepped a woman. The most beautiful woman.

It had been over two hundred years since the Doctor had last seen that face. At least for him it had been. But she hadn't aged a day. The only sign that any time had passed since that dreadful moment on the beach was her longer hair, now reaching halfway down her back. How much time had passed for her since the metacrisis, the Doctor wondered? She wore what Rose would normally wear: a tight brown leather jacket over a blue t-shirt, accompanied by jeans. She wore less make up then before, which the Doctor personally preferred; just a light touch of gold eyelshadow than made her blue eyes shimmer.

_John was right_, the Doctor realized, scrutinizing the wave of glittering golden light that seemed to emit from Rose's skin. It swarmed around her like a hive of silent bees. _She has some TARDIS in her. But man, she looks so gorgeous…_

Usually, when Rose saw the Doctor, she would smile that blinding smile of hers, and the Doctor would return it with his own. So the man in the bowtie and suspenders, a stranger to Rose Tyler, was not used to seeing her first bound toward another man and leap into his arms, completely oblivious of anyone else in the room. He scowled as she got on her tiptoes to kiss his former body, a pang of familiar jealousy racing through him. The exact same jealousy he had felt the last time he had watched Rose Tyler kiss another man.

The Doctor's gaze immediately turned to his shoes as he saw Rose's head turn in his direction. "Who's this?" he heard her ask.

John answered. "This is Charles Owens. From UNIT. He's agreed to do some collaborating with us about the Dalek situation."

The Doctor's eyes for forced to look up as Rose's outstretched hand reached toward him. "Rose Tyler, second in command to the Torchwood science research facility." She told him cheerily. "Nice to meet you. UNIT, eh?"

Trying not to allow his fingers to tremble, the Doctor shook her hand. _I'm touching Rose Tyler_, he realized. _I'm looking at Rose Tyler… _This was something he never expected to happen again. And now that it was, he was forced into resisting the urge to wrap her into a tight embrace. No, instead of that he gave her a strained smile. "Yup. UNIT." He swiftly released her hand.

"No offense," she continued, "but I never would've guessed that UNIT would be willing to collaborate."

"Oh, give us some credit. Several of us have real brains. Not many, of course."

She giggled at that, and the Doctor felt as if one of his hearts had just burst in reaction to the sound. "Well, its good to hear that, Mr. Owens." Rose turned back to her adopted father, her tone growing anxious. "Anything new with the Daleks?"

Peter shook his head. "They're still up there." He leaned over a particularly large computer, then twirled it around so that the others could see. There, on the screen, was an image of the saucer-like Dalek ship that the Doctor was too familiar with, just sitting there in space. All five people in the room tensed at the sight of it. "See look," Pete went on. "Just orbiting earth. Its weird. Why aren't they attacking? After they cybermen were wiped out, they've just been sitting there."

The Doctor was very confused by this. Of all the emotions ever to be experienced by Time Lord or human alike, he thought he hated confusion the most. He then glanced at Rose, then at John, then back at Rose. No, scratch that. It was agony that he hated the most. But confusion was pretty high up on the list.

Rose heaved a great sigh. "Well, I was just checking in. Better get home and start dinner." the Doctor tried not to flinch at such a domestic sentence coming out of her mouth. "If you're late again, I swear that I will use that teleport machine you're developing to strand you on Mars. Got that, mister?" John, smiling broadly at Rose's familiar teasing, accepted her peck on the lips. Once again, the Doctor resisted flinching. Once Rose's back was turned, he was about to point out that leaving her alone may not be the best idea, but John motioned to Jackie before he hand the chance.

"Oh, Rose, wait!" Rose's mother called immediately. "Let me walk home with you. I can help you with dinner."

Jackie, who was looking slightly panicked, cast her husband a look. Pete, was rather reluctant, but he was too terrified of Jackie's relentless fury to ignore her. "Right, and I'll come too." He followed them out the door.

And the two Doctors were left alone.

**I know the show didn't exactly go out and say why the TARDIS's explosion caused the end of the universe, but this was my interpretation of it. Apologies if the science of it didn't make much sense! I know I did horribly with that—I was just so lost on what to do! **


End file.
